In my experience, taking down a 1911 with a full-length guide rod is a pain in the butt. With the two-piece, there is a socket-head on the end of the rod. You use an allen wrench to unscrew it. Unscrew it and take the front part of the rod out through the bottom of the bushing. Then disassemble the gun like a normal 1911. Much easier, but you need the dang allen wrench. Ain't got that and you're back to the pain in the butt full-length rod problem. After breaking mine down a dozen times or so, I decided that I had never had a problem with the standard recoil spring guide, so I replaced my full length rod with a standard length guide. Problem solved.